From: Joseph Sterlynne (vxs@mailandnews.com)
Date: Wed Dec 20 2000 - 10:02:37 MST
> Edwin Evans
> Dertouzos writes "ask yourself whether we are truly better off surrounded
> by hordes of complex digital devices that force us to serve them rather
> than the other way around." Where does he come up with this?
I don't know. But you hear people say this sort of thing all the time.
Dertouzos actually places the above comment in the context of "the industrial
world" so he might dismiss your remarks about online shopping and search
engines and such. But even in his context it is not at all clear what he
means. In what way do complex digital devices force us to serve them? In
the same way that, say, horses and carriages forced us to serve them (i.e.,
people were required to maintain them constantly to preserve their
functionality)?
His point that "technological growth, regardless of its magnitude, does not
automatically empower us" is correct: we obviously must choose how technology
shall be used. In fact, technology can be used to enslave. But Dertouzos's
bare statement seems to only mean something to people who already feel
enslaved by the technology itself.
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